Please Don't Feed the Children

When I read the synopsis, I thought Okay, this sounds cool and dystopian. I was excited to see the debut directing by Destry Allyn Spielberg. The beginning of a new generation of directing, and I was not upset about the nepotism. My first red flag was when they announced it would be released on Tubi. Then the reviews started coming in, and I ignored them because I thought people were just hating on the nepotism. Yet I found out no, this movie is truly absolutely awful. What a mess. Michelle Dockery's talent was wasted in this mess of a movie that could not figure itself out. The plot holes are just completely unignorable. At no point in the 1 hour and 32 minutes of run time did any character make a realistic decision. The world-building was dismal, and when the "reveal" finally happened, I just did not care anymore. It was so bad that I have no notes on the directing choices because I was so bored and annoyed. Please just skip.

This is a little gem. I see great potential for Miss Destry. The missed brilliance in reviews is tragic. This director has an eye for making banal new. See it again. She's a photographer. Watch the tricky lit head shots. They are magical. Only a genius could have made this film unique in its over all slant that embodies a wonderful twist. Destry is cursed by her famous last name. This girl has a wonderful style.

I love the actors. Dockety delivers a clearly defined dervish dame. Mary the main character delivets a frightened girl whom we know will survive.

The subject of Please Don't Feed the Children is a tricky take on generational breakdown. Why are adults afraid of children? That's the core theme beneath the drama. One generation is always threatened by the next one. If we could understand this we all would be happier. The metaphor is that chilren carry an unforseen killer which is their youth, vigor, and intelligence that will outlive the adults.

That's it! Children will outlive the adults and that is why they are hounded and rounded up. The hidden virus children carry is their ability to outlive the older generation.

The movie started off decent for about a minute, but quickly slowed down and lost direction. It felt like it was trying to build toward something, but never really got there. By the end, I was still wondering what the title even had to do with the story. The acting? Pretty rough-but honestly, that's kind of what I expected from a Tubi original.

I am known for my very long reviews. This won't be one of them. Ms. Spielberg, what on earth were you thinking? I don't even know what to say. The synopsis sounded derivative but interesting. The trailer made me curious- but then, this movie?

The plot barely matters because there almost is none. There is exposition in the first 5 minutes including the films title. It serves no purpose- it becomes an afterthought- gives you a hint of a possible story that never materializes. It then gives you unlikeable characters you have no reason to care about, and after seeing cliche after cliche of typical thriller tropes well- the question becomes- why didn't i turn it off?

I didn't because it was Steven Spielberg's daughter's first film and i was hoping it would eventually become more interesting. What's shocking is it actually got worse -- and there was no great metaphor that people "needed to understand" or "didn't get". This is not a deep film. It could have been adults who ended up at the house for the purpose we later discover. There was no twist at the end, only a boring obvious common sense reveal.

The reason given in the first 5 minutes was not based on jealousy/fear but was just an excuse for a scapegoat. Kids don't outlive the adults. The adults have lived years longer already- nor was anyone scared of anyone in this film unless they had a gun pointed at their face. In fact, those 5 minutes seemed like a setup for another movie entirely - and those looking for meaning or metaphors when there were none are foolish.

Please- for your next film, pick up a decent script and a story that's interesting and that would justify becoming a full length movie. Thank you.

First, being the daughter of a great (mostly) director, doesn't mean the progeny will be a great director. Hence this. Does no one who writes a movie, think beyond the premise? This move comes straight from the weak as hell J. J. Abrams/Alex Kurtzman school of film writing. The premise, a disease that kills adults and affects children, well, let's be honest. The Virus of the week film isn't anything new. How it's done, like lets say the 28 series (NOT ZOMBIE MOVIES!) are brilliant, each evolving in a different way. Now, if this virus is so virulent, how has anyone survived it? (First mistake). The movie doesn't know what it wants to be; is it horror? Suspense? Where are the monsters? How did Michelle Dockery (who looks and acts like an older version of her character from Downton Abbey, and constantly uses the english term 'Sweets' for candy.) Ditto Giancarlo Esposito. This is just a bad, weak movie that runs on the coattails of the director's name. Weak and poor. I can see why it premiered on Tubi.